After the definitive defeat of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna made Marie Louise (1791-1847) life duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla. The new sovereign, who Italianised her name to Maria Luigia, gave sensitive support to the arts during her 30-year reign, just as she had done as empress of France.
This painting probably dates from the beginning of Marie Louise’s Parmesan period (which began in April 1816), as can be inferred from the youthful aspect of the sitter and the fact that she is set against a neutral backdrop with none of the insignia of her rank. The painter, Antonio Pasini, had been appointed professor of miniatures at the Parma Arts Academy in 1805 and was to be appointed by Marie Louise court portraitist in the same year. Indeed, the duchess knew of Pasini because he had collaborated with the renowned typographer Bodoni on the 1811 publication Cimelio tipografico pittorico, of which only six copies were produced and one of which was offered to the imperial couple on the birth of the King of Rome.
Though an honest craftsman, Pasini was an artist of limited ability, and his official portrait of Marie-Louise made in 1820 had to be repainted because it was judged unlike the model. Here however the viewer gets the impression that this was indeed a good resemblance of the young mother of the King of Rome.
Marco Pupillo in Giulia Gorgone (ed.), Museo Napoleonico: Guida, Milan: Electa, 2008, p. 49
With the kind permission of Giulia Gorgone and the Museo Napoleonico, Rome.
February 2011